Contents

History

Before First Curse

Abigail is the daughter of King Midas who falls in love with a knight named Frederick and they become engaged. However, the lovers become forever separated when Frederick is accidentally turned to gold by Midas' golden touch while protecting him from an attempted robbery. She tries everything, including true love's kiss, to break the curse on Frederick, with no success. ("What Happened to Frederick")

With little hope of bringing Frederick back, she reverts to an eligible status for marriage. Her father strikes a deal with the neighboring kingdom of King George to reward him with gold if he can get rid of a terrorizing dragon. George's faux son Prince Charming, masquerading as the already deceased James, slays the beast. Midas is greatly impressed by the prince's skills and offers Abigail to him as a bride. Abigail has little quarrel with the arrangement and goes along with it, commenting that he will do as her future husband. Through the woods, the future couple ride in a carriage together towards their engagement party at King Midas' castle. ("The Shepherd")

During the journey, Abigail is displeased by the bumpy carriage ride and openly complains about it to Prince Charming, telling him they should have used the Troll Bridge instead. They come to a halt when a fallen tree is blocking the road, so he goes out to assess the situation. Suddenly, Abigail hears a thumping noise from atop the carriage as if something just dropped down. A thief reaches into the carriage to steal Prince Charming's jewels and rides off. Abigail screams in fright, alerting her fiancé to the robber, and he chases after the bandit on horseback. ("Snow Falls")

During the journey, the couple's carriage comes to a halt when a fallen tree is blocking the road, so Prince Charming goes out to assess the situation. While waiting in the carriage, Abigail is startled when he suddenly reappears soundlessly. Exasperated, she comments that he nearly gave her a heart attack. He informs her that the tree was purposely cut and that someone was likely planning to ambush them. Continuing on the ride to King Midas' castle, the carriage stops a short distance away as they arrive. Charming is surprised by the exterior's gold-encrusted walls, though Abigail says he'll stop noticing after a while. During the engagement party, her future husband asks if she'd like to dance. Abigail remarks that her shoes are too uncomfortable, so Charming offers to fetch her another pair. She sarcastically calls him her hero and walks away with a look of disdain. Later, Abigail goes up to his room to look for him only to see the wanted thief Snow White escaping out the window. Shocked, she alerts the guards as the Evil Queen's soldiers begin searching for the bandit. ("Snow Drifts")

After the engagement party goes off without a hitch, Abigail arrives in King George's kingdom for the actual wedding ceremony. Though George hides the truth from her, she secretly knows that Prince Charming has run away. She has her father's soldiers capture Charming while he is on the run, and gives him supplies for his journey. He is suspicious over why she is helping him, so Abigail admits that she, like him, is in love with someone else. Abigail takes him to see the golden statue of Frederick. She is desperate for a cure and brings up rumors of the magic waters of Lake Nostos, which can restore something that was once lost. Charming offers to fetch it for her, though she strongly opposes his sacrifice. She fears his valiant bravery will end in failure, and then both of them will be miserable. Instead, Charming states that if he succeeds, her misery will be gone, and, if not, the misery will be his own in death. Abigail accompanies to the entrance of the lake, but he goes in alone. She anxiously waits for his return at the golden statue of Frederick. Finally, he returns with the magic water, which she pours over Frederick's head. The gold melts off and her beloved returns to human. As thanks to Prince Charming's for his selfless act, they provide him with provisions for his journey to find Snow White. However, Abigail warns him of King George's wrath before they part ways. ("What Happened to Frederick")

After the casting of the Dark Curse, Kathryn becomes the wife of David Nolan. Though false memories implanted by the curse, she remembers having a heated argument with her husband, which ended once he stormed out of the house and never returned since. One fateful day, she learns from mayor Regina that David has been a patient in the hospital and was rescued after wandering into the woods since waking up from a coma. She hastens to the hospital and reunites with him. She thanks the efforts of a schoolteacher, Mary Margaret, who saved her husband's life. ("Snow Falls")

While David is still in recovery, Kathryn brings along old photos from their life together in an attempt to help him remember. She shows him a photo of their dog, Ajax, who he pretends to remember although he actually recalls nothing from his life with Kathryn. Though Kathryn is not supposed to see him outside of visiting hours, she can't help but approach David while he is out on doctor ordered walking exercise to hand him his favorite baked muffins. ("That Still Small Voice")

Following her husband being discharged from the hospital, she brings David home and surprises him with a party filled with their close friends, though he doesn't recognize anyone. They briefly converse with Dr. Whale, who took care of David while he was recovering in the hospital. Despite the happy front, Kathryn senses that her husband is drifting farther away. She hides out in the kitchen, busying herself with supplying snacks to the partygoers, while Regina sympathizes with what it's like to lose someone she loved due to her own unwillingness to fight for him. With encouragement from Regina, Kathryn goes to look for David and asks around, but cannot find him, as he has secretly left to meet with Mary Margaret. After the party is over, Kathryn attempts to get closer to David by kissing him, but he pulls away and states that it doesn't feel right. Later, Kathryn is bombarded with David's decision to leave her. Devastated, she confides in Regina about this, and Regina, in turn, suspecting Mary Margaret is the reason for David's choice, warns the schoolteacher to not get in the way of Kathryn's marriage. Later, Regina instigates David into recalling cursed memories of the life he had with Kathryn, causing him to break Mary Margaret's heart in favor of returning to his wife. After David arrives home, Kathryn opens the door as David tells her he wants to give their marriage a try. ("The Shepherd")

In an effort to reconnect, David drives his wife to the diner during the mornings. While Kathryn waits in the car, David goes to pick up coffee for them. During one upcoming storm in town, she goes with Regina to the pharmacy to grab supplies. One of these things is a pregnancy test, which spills out from her shopping cart when she bumps into Mary Margaret. As she picks everything up, Mary Margaret hands back the test and wishes her luck. The pregnancy test turns up negative, and she only tells David after finding out. In a discussion with him, she is still unhappy with the state of their marriage. David promises to try harder and suggests they attend therapy sessions together. ("7:15 A.M.")

During dinner with her husband, Kathryn shows David an acceptance letter she got from a law school in Boston and prompts him about moving there to start afresh with him. She suggests that, rather than recreating their past together, they should make new memories in a different setting, which is perhaps something their marriage needs. While she is looking up possible housing options in Boston, David apologetically rejects the notion of moving away with her. He breaks it to Kathryn gently that they can't be together due to not connecting, but this shouldn't keep her from her dream of law school. Heartbroken, she runs to Regina in tears and informs her of what happened. Regina has a strange reaction and mutters something about a home wrecker. Kathryn pushes her for the truth, with Regina feigning reluctance to share the information before handing her some photos Sidney secretly took of David and Mary Margaret having an affair. Kathryn is furious that Regina, who she considered a friend, kept all this from her. She leaves to march right into the school hallway, roughly brushing past the gym teacher, Jim, to confront Mary Margaret with a resounding slap across the face that leaves bystanders and the schoolteacher herself stunned. As Mary Margaret starts to apologize, Kathryn unleashes anger towards her for David's flimsy excuse that they weren't connecting in the marriage rather than admitting the truth. Shaken, Mary Margaret is surprised to learn David did not tell Kathryn about the affair. Kathryn confirms he did not and it would've been the honorable thing to do, and then vehemently declares the two of them deserve each other before leaving. After having time to cool down, she comes to terms with the affair and realizes what David and Mary Margaret have is real love, and writes a letter to her ex-husband encouraging them to stay together. Later, Kathryn apologizes to Regina for her earlier actions. She is still planning to move to Boston and tells her about the letter for David. Kathryn voices the fears she's always had of leaving town, which indirectly hints at the Dark Curse's effects. That night, she packs everything up and begins driving out of town. ("What Happened to Frederick")

Unbeknownst to Kathryn, Regina and Mr. Gold have conspired to make her disappear so Mary Margaret will be blamed for murdering her. On the drive out of Storybrooke, Kathryn crashes her car. She is kidnapped and held as a prisoner in a room, where food and water are always provided for her, though she never sees anyone. After some time, Kathryn is drugged and wakes up in a field outside of town. She manages to crawl the entire way to the alley behind the diner where Ruby, in disbelief of who she is seeing, alerts Sheriff Emma to her presence. ("The Stable Boy")

After Kathryn is taken to the hospital to undergo a detox and filter out the drugs in her system, Emma comes to take a statement from her. Kathryn recounts everything from the car crash to how she ended up in the alley. She is genuinely confused and shocked when Emma alludes that Mary Margaret was set up for her murder. Later in the day, while resting up, she is startled awake by David's presence in her hospital room. He apologizes for everything that occurred between them, which she accepts and sadly admits perhaps they were not meant to be. ("The Return")

To stop Peter Pan's curse from overtaking Storybrooke, Regina undoes the curse she once cast, but as the price of magic, the town will be wiped out and all residents will be forced to return to the Enchanted Forest. Kathryn, presumably because she was originally from the Enchanted Forest, is also taken back to that realm. ("Going Home")

Regina, after bestowing Henry with a kiss of true love, breaks the second curse. Like everyone else, Kathryn regains her lost memories of the missing year in the Enchanted Forest. ("A Curious Thing")

After Second Curse

In a diner celebration welcoming David and Mary Margaret's newborn son, Kathryn attends the party and engages in conversation with Granny. As Henry is looking over his storybook about the tale of how his grandparents met each other, David references how he was at the time engaged to Kathryn, who was known as Princess Abigail then. Hook expresses surprise he gave up that opportunity since Abigail is the daughter of Midas, the king who could turn anything into gold. ("Snow Drifts")

Production Notes

Kathryn is one of the secondary characters whose story showrunners Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis cogitated to include tidbits of in a Season Six feature, but decided it might draw too much the attention away from the main storyline.[8]

Props Notes

Costume Notes

For the episode "What Happened to Frederick", Abigail's hat[11] was made by Canadian-based fine headwear maker Kelly Dunlap, also known as The Saucy Milliner. On the hat, there is a center tail feather from a pheasant, which was secured with a brass finding on the side. Because of the feather not being actually sewn on the hat, it moves frequently as Abigail is walking or riding her horse. A duplicate hat was also made for Abigail's stunt double.[12]

Goofs

"What Happened to Frederick" shows that the day Kathryn disappears, and the day before, is a school day. On the first day, she learns about David's affair and confronts Mary Margaret at the school where students and teachers are milling about. When Kathryn decides to leave Storybrooke, she apologizes to Regina for "what happened yesterday" (when she took her anger out on Regina) while Emma seeks out Henry at school. On the same day, Kathryn departs, and Regina burns the letter. However, according to Kathryn's phone records, she disappeared on a Sunday.[13] In the U.S., school classes are not in session during weekends.

At the end of the episode, Kathryn has been missing for twenty-four hours; meaning that this episode takes place the day after she disappears. David tells Emma that he last spoke to Kathryn "yesterday afternoon" (and stresses that he is telling the truth), but also says that he hasn't spoken to her since ending their relationship. However, "What Happened to Frederick" shows that David broke up with Kathryn the day before she disappeared. In addition, Emma says to Sidney that David told her that he didn't speak to Kathryn the day before she disappeared, though, in fact, he said he did. This complicates matters even more so when Emma discovers that Kathryn did talk to David on the phone the day she disappeared, but "Red-Handed" and "Heart of Darkness" establish that he doesn't remember the phone call because of a memory blackout.

↑Abrams, Natalie (April 25, 2017). Once Upon a Time: Details on potential vignette episode. Entertainment Weekly. “Executive producer Adam Horowitz explains that the problem with dedicating an entire hour to these secondary characters is that it takes away from the main storyline. "It ultimately comes down to: Where do you want to spend your time?" Horowitz says. "There's so much we want to explore with our core characters. While we would love to tell you what’s going on with Kathryn [Anastasia Griffith] or the Red Queen, if we can find ways to slip in bits of it, or to tell you what's going on with Lily, we'll do it, but to give over a whole episode to it — as much as we love the idea on a conceptual level — it's such precious real estate. Not that we don't love the minor characters, but we have to honor our main cast."”